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Creaking noise from front

9

99SE

CEG'er
Joined
Nov 28, 2006
Messages
470
Location
Ranson, WV
I have a noise that is coming from the passenger front wheel. It sounds like a creaking board or springs. Could it be my ball joints though. It sounds like its coming from the bottom portion. Please help me I'm getting agitated with this noise.
 
when does it do this? when accelerating? going over bumps? vertical travel? body roll?

what?
 
Hey, I just posted similiar problems in the same forum. I was told it could be the sway bar brushings and endlinks. Check it out.
 
It does it alot more when going up and down over bumps. Its more noticable when the tires are straight. The only time I notice it is when the suspension travels up and down. I was going to go and spray some kind of lubricant on the bushings and ball joints one at a time and see which one makes it stop but I haven't had a chance to do that yet.
 
99SE said:
It does it alot more when going up and down over bumps. Its more noticable when the tires are straight. The only time I notice it is when the suspension travels up and down. I was going to go and spray some kind of lubricant on the bushings and ball joints one at a time and see which one makes it stop but I haven't had a chance to do that yet.
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Did you check to see if you dont have any broken springs?

I have one broken in the rear right at the base of the strut, my tour will make the same noise you are describing whenever I go over really hard bumps.
 
If the spring was broken wouldn't it sag a little. When you say "spring" you mean coil spring right? Visually I don't see anything wrong. But it reall seems to be coming from the lower portion of the suspension. I can get on the car and push it up and down while its parked and it creaks like crazy.
 
It is your control arms bushings. Once I replaced the control arms all the bad noises went away.
 
svtavino said:
It is your control arms bushings. Once I replaced the control arms all the bad noises went away.
Click to expand...


The bushings that you talk about, is it the ones that look like they have a balljoint in them? Can I replace just the bushings? Is there a how to on this?

Sorry about all the questions but this noise is getting annoying.
 
I found it! It is the front bushing on the control arm on the passenger side. The rubber is busted and the ball joint is completly dry. Really really dry. I put some oil in it, since it can hold it like it is a cup now, and the noise is no longer there. It looks to me that the ball joint/bushing is molded into the control arm. Is this correct? Do I have to replace the complete control arm?
 
if the bushings are shot on the control arms then the whole arm will need to be replaced as that is how they come from Ford ....
 
It is very cost and time affective to get a new arm - it costs maybe 20 bucks mroe then getting a new balljoint and 2 new bushings.
 
99SE said:
I found it! It is the front bushing on the control arm on the passenger side. The rubber is busted and the ball joint is completly dry. Really really dry. I put some oil in it, since it can hold it like it is a cup now, and the noise is no longer there. It looks to me that the ball joint/bushing is molded into the control arm. Is this correct? Do I have to replace the complete control arm?
Click to expand...
First, let's get the terms correct.

The Lower Control Arm bushings are on the bottom of the "triangle". The lower ball joint is on the apex of the "triangle" of the LCA.

If you say the rubber boot of the lower ball joint is dry and busted, then just replace the lower ball joint. They will grind out the rivets and put a new lower ball joint and bolts (usually about $100).

Edit. Autozonelink
http://www.autozone.com/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/1b/d7/31/0900823d801bd731/repairInfoPages.htm
 
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Yes the lower ball joint boot is busted but the one that is closer to the engine and in front of the triangle is completely dry. The metal is even scoured up a little bit from grinding. It hasn't creaked at all since I put some oil on it. But I am going to fix it.

I found a lower control arm on Ebay that was brand new for $55 plus shipping. Am I ever going to beat that price.

This looks like an easy fix. Is it? All I see is 3 bolts to take out. The hardest would be the ball joint closest to the tire.
 
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